25th Annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition at Cal Poly Pomona
The 25th annual Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition (PSBC) was held at California State University – Pomona (CPP) on March 23, 2019. More than 100 Students from over 30 High Schools from Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Bernardino & Riverside County participated in this year’s competition. Volunteers from ASCE LA YMF, ASCE OC YMF, ASCE SB & RIV YMF and CPP ASCE Student Chapter made this year’s event a grand success.
Frank Wei, PE, Senior Bridge Engineer from Caltrans, Alex Pham, CPP Alumni and a working professional, and CPP Assistant Professor Giuseppe Lomiento, PhD, motivated and inspired the young students and budding engineers. With their life stories and experiences, they introduced the importance of engineering in everyday life and the impact engineers have on society.
All the competing teams were divided into four groups to participate in a technical tour, impromptu event, load testing of their bridges, and oral presentations. Each team had previously submitted a technical report on their bridge design and construction. These activities were planned to give the High School students a real-life engineering experience. All the students enjoyed the group activities and technical tours.
Congratulations to the winners, including: Mission Viejo High School for workmanship, Fransisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School for the technical report, and overall first place winners from Arleta High School! Congratulations to all the students who competed and learned about working in a team and overall experience of civil engineering.
ASCE LA YMF’s PSBC 2019 co-chairs Amit Joshi, PE and Ryan Condol, EIT did a fantastic job leading this event and ensuring that the students had fun bonding over engineering!
Thank you to our sponsors who helped make this day possible, especially our Gold Sponsors: Jacobs, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California!
A huge thank you to ASCE OC YMF, ASCE SB & RIV YMF and CPP ASCE Student Chapter for your help in this joint event! We pass on the torch to ASCE OC YMF for 2020 and 2021 and look forward to offering all our support to make PSBC a grand success.
